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Today’s featured guest submitted the most succinct bio we’ve had the pleasure of receiving so far: “I studied sculpture / went to Japan / discovered gardens and tree pruning / founded Niwaki.” To that we add: became a master of and missionary for cloud pruning (the art of Japanese topiary); introduced Japanese tools, including the iconic tripod ladder, to Western gardeners; and grew a brand that has, since its founding in 2007, become synonymous with Japanese craftsmanship and style.
Contrary to the Quick Takes spirit, we asked Jake Hobson to elaborate on his answer: “When I first got interested in shaping and pruning I was in Japan. I kept seeing these amazing trees that looked so different to ours, and it took me a while to realise that it wasn’t because they were different species, but because they’d been pruned that way. Pruned to look like trees! I think that’s a very Japanese thing, refining something natural, reducing it to its essence. Since then, my passion has grown beyond the conceptual, to the practical. I love the physical side of pruning, both the immediacy of clipping—being in the moment—and the longterm consequences of what a single decision or cut can do. Generally, I’m quite impatient, but when it comes to plants, I love the sense of time involved.”
Read on for Jake’s thoughts on good conifers versus bad conifers, his favorite and least favorite plants (both begin with “ph”), and more.
Photography by Jake Hobson, unless otherwise noted.
Your first garden memory:
Playing in the sandpit with a huge spade. I grew up in Hampshire [in the UK] and actually have more memories of the woods than the garden. Campfires. The smell of wild garlic amongst coppiced hazel. The dark stillness of ivy covered understory beneath beech and yews.
Garden-related book you return to time and again:
Woody Plants of Japan, published by Yama Kei. It’s in Japanese and lists every tree and shrub imaginable. Would make a good partner to The Hillier Manual of Trees and Shrubs.
Describe in three words your garden aesthetic.
Sculpture. Nature. Jaketure.
Plant that makes you swoon:
Anything laden with ripe fruit. Wineberries in particular, and figs.
Plant that makes you want to run the other way:
Red phormiums.
Favorite go-to plant:
Phillyrea latifolia. Left alone it makes the most beautiful small evergreen tree. Fiddled with, it’s brilliant for topiary, cloud pruning, and clipped shapes.
Hardest gardening lesson you’ve learned:
I’m still learning it: Soil prep really does matter.
Unpopular gardening opinion:
Conifers are great. Just get the right ones. We moved into a house that was called “Conifers.” I cut down all sorts of classic, ’70s style conifers and promptly replanted with all my favourites. Cryptomeria japonica, Pines thunbergii, Podocarpus macrophyllus—proper tree forms.
Gardening or design trend that needs to go:
The mess outside new housing developments. Photinias, phormiums, spirals, and worst of all, chestnut cleft fences.
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